Engaging more muscles groups in a single exercise saves you time as well as create functional coordination you need in daily activities and sports. Maintaining stability during a swiss ball jackknife fires up your obliques and your spine stabilizers in addition to your hipflexors, your chest and triceps.

Before you head for a full stability ball jackknife, you should get your feet wet by mastering the modified version.

Place your feet on the swiss ball and assume a push up position.

Exhale, role the ball toward your chest by tucking your knees under.

Inhale and return to starting position.

To keep your core engaged and prevent low back stress, avoid sagging down as you extend your body.

Looking for one exercise that challenges your entire core, including four layers of your abs and your lower back? How about we we threw in the pecs, the delts and the thighs?

Introducing Swiss Ball Plank otherwise known as stability ball plank. At a 45 degree angle with the stability ball trying to move in every directions, your core must kick into over drive to keep your body stable and on top of the Swiss ball. A solid surface will never create this much core challenge and it will never give you the same results.

How to Do a Plank on A Swiss Ball?

Kneel by the stability ball and place your forearms on center of the ball.

Move your feet away and extend your body until you form a straight line from your ear to your feet. This is the plank position.

Don’t push your elbow into the ball, your weight is supported by your forearm which is bent at a 90-degree angle.

Hold this rigid position without sagging for about 30 seconds.

Rest and repeat.

By the time you reach a two minute mark, you’ll have a solid core.

Don’t forget to breathe through out the plan without losing your ab control.

Swiss ball magnifies the difference between a sit up exercise and a crunch exercise. A sit up exercise emphasizes your hip flexors by bringing the trunk towards your thighs. A crunch reduces the space between your sternum and your pelvis.

A crunch is a very tight and small motion in comparison to large movements it happens in a sit up. Keep the difference in mind as we go through the steps in doing a stability ball crunch.

A crunch on a flat floor does not allow any extension of the spine which you can see in a low back arch. An arch in the lower back translates to increasing the space between your sternum and your pelvis. This increased space means lengthening of your ab muscles which is a prerequisite for the contraction that follows in the crunch.

Swiss ball provides a full range of motion for your crunch exercise because it allows you to wrap your lower back around it. Floor crunches provide a limited range of motion that makes them less effective.

Additional advantage of the Swiss ball is the constant instability which forces you to engage your core stabilizers or around your waist not just in front.

How to Do A Swiss Ball Crunch?

Sit on the ball and walk forward until your mid back is on the ball.

Keep your feet wide enough apart, so you don’t fall over. As you progress you can narrow your base of support by bringing your feet together which engages your core stabilizers even more.

Place your hands slightly behind your head and keep your elbows wide.

Exhale and crunch by lifting your chest up and keeping your head and your trunk and one line. Crunch motion does not happen at the neck; it happens at your abs level.

Inhale and lower your body by wrapping it around the ball without losing to point of tension. If you go too far so that the ball begins to carry your weight you are essentially resting in the middle of your set. Effectiveness of your crunch requires continuous tension through out your set.

When finished walk back to a seated position on the ball before you and exercise.

One of the most common mistakes in workouts in general and shoulder workouts specifically is emphasis on the forward pressing actions like pushup and bench press. Swiss ball dumbbell shoulder press helps you bring some balance and sanity to that approach.

Your shoulder joint needs to move in 360 degree direction. When you over develop your muscles in one direction, you misalign how your arm is located in your shoulder socket and start jamming the joint. To avoid pain, many will reduce their range of motion more and more and pretty soon, they can’t even put on a t shirt without assistance.

Always check with your physician to verify the cause and the condition of pain. After that take steps to bring back the mobility into your shoulder and the 360 degree strength that it needs.

How to Do A Swiss Ball Dumbbell Shoulder Press?

Place the dumbbells on the floor by the exercise ball.

Sit on the ball that is the right size for you. When you sit at the center of the right size ball with correct inflation, your butt is slightly higher than your knees with your feet flat on the floor.

Keep your feet wide enough apart, so you don’t fall over.

Bend over and pick up your dumbbells.

Choose a pair of dumbbells that you can press around 15 reps. Don’t let your enthusiasm get the better of you. 15 reps to exhaustion is a good start as you learn to balance on the ball.

Inhale and press. This is not a typo, I mean inhale not exhale. As you inhale you lift your chest up which lines up your back and neck which places your scapula and shoulder joint in a better position for overhead press. With heavier weights you may need to alter your breathing pattern, but then you will not be on stability ball any more.

Exhale and lower.

When finished, set the dumbbells down on the floor before you stand up.